


Youngho To The Rescue

by moonmantaeil



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Doyu, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, JaeYong - Freeform, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, sideships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:01:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29955807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonmantaeil/pseuds/moonmantaeil
Summary: Youngho, or Johnny (as people called him back in America) has a knack for getting in trouble without him really intending to. How bad is it wanting to help? Why is the world after his ass for having pure distaste of seeing people ganging up on someone weak? He’s lost jobs, got called in the principal’s office too many times, got into physical fights even for what? For wanting to help?orTaeil is a helpless little bean and Johnny is 6ft of intimidating and fuff
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Nakamoto Yuta, Moon Taeil/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	1. the start

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, the title sucks big time. Open for suggestions
> 
> the lack of taeil stories is unacceptable!🤬 I am making it a mission to add to taeil tags even if its the last thing i do 😌
> 
> give my boy some love! 🌙💚
> 
> not beta'd  
> english is not my first language  
> please enjoy this little offering to all the moondanse's out there. y'all have SUPERIOR taste.  
> kudos/comments are very much appreciated

Youngho plays with the hem of his shirt just to give his hands something to do while he waits for the other guy to talk.

It’s dumb, he realizes, now that his brain is back to its full function. He was the one who dragged the other to this cafe they’re now sitting in, a half empty iced americano resting on the table in front of him while the once hot chocolate across his drink remains untouched.

He clears his throat before he speak so he does not startle the guy in front of him.

“Aren’t you gonna drink that?” He asked gently, pointing at the mug.

The other slowly lifts his head up to meet his eyes but quickly looked back down at the mug in question. Slightly shaking hands in sweater paws slowly reached out for the mug and brings it up to its owner's lips to take a sip.

As Youngho silently observes him, he’s reminded so much of a boy from years ago.

_He was walking back to his house form middle school with some of his friends when they saw a group of boys surrounding a single boy crouching on the ground, holding something close to his chest. The laughter that came out from the group and a light sobbing was enough to tell him what’s going on. Despite his friends pulling him back, Youngho managed to slip away from them and ran to where the group is._

_“Hey!” he yelled, making the group of boys turn._

_One of them, who Youngho assumes is the leader of the gang smirks and steps forward._

_“What do you want?” he asked._

_“Five against one is not fair, don’t you think so?” Youngho shrugs in reply._

_“What are you gonna do about it?” a shorter boy behind the leader interjects._

_“Yah, Minseok-ah.” Taeyong, one of his friends chuckles behind him. “Does your mom know you go around bullying other kids?” Youngho didn’t need to look behind him to know Jaehyun and Yuta are also close by. This four vs. five is looking a lot better than what he had seen earlier._

_He watches as the eyes of the leader grow wide at the mention of his name Youngho wanted to laugh just to piss him even more but he didn’t._

_“What would your mom say when she finds out about it after church?”_

_Someone, most probably Yuta, scoffs behind him. He could already see the Japanese boy teasing Taeyong about his Sunday activities again._

_The boy, Minseok, still tries to act cool in front of his friends but Youngho definitely saw the boy’s hands slightly shaking. He tells his friends they’re not worth it and walks away._

_He momentarily forgot about the crouching boy until he heard a soft purr._

_Looking down at the boy still crouching he saw the head of a tiny kitten take a little peek._

_“You’re okay now.” It was barely a whisper, but he hears it anyway._

Youngho was brought back to the present when he hears the soft thud of the mug hitting the table.

When he looks back up, the boy is already looking at him. Who knew a cup of once hot chocolate could really have a calming effect as he noticed the guy’s hand stopped shaking.

_An hour ago_

Youngho was minding his own business walking back to his shared apartment from his part-time job when he saw them again. This time, not in a hidden corner of the city library where he works part-time, but at the city park. The same four guys but he could tell one of them isn’t having the time of his life, just like the last three times he saw them.

Youngho stopped meddling with other people’s business when doing so got him in trouble so many times in the six years he’s lived in Chicago and he’s not about to start getting himself into trouble again. He promised his mom that he will start fresh, reason why he chose to go to university in Korea in the first place.

Youngho, or _Johnny_ (as people called him back in America) has a knack for getting in trouble without him really intending to. How bad is it _wanting to help?_ Why is the world after his ass for having pure distaste of seeing people ganging up on someone weak? He’s lost jobs, got called in the principal’s office too many times, got into physical fights even for what? _For wanting to help?_ His parents in constant dilemma, not knowing exactly how to feel whenever they would get a call form school, from the _police station_ asking them to pick their son up. They are proud of their son for growing up to be a very kind-hearted soul but sometimes they wish he isn’t too nosy. When his parents sat him down and told him about their worries, he made the decision to go back to Korea for university. He learned to love America but it’s just too wild for his type of personality. Sure he could still get in trouble in Korea for wanting to help (it’s innate, there’s nothing he could do about it) but he’d like to think his 6ft ass is enough to look intimidating should the need to look intimidating arise.

He walked his 6ft ass over to the _now_ familiar faces and when he’s close enough he could hear what it is all about.

“Make sure it’s done before the end of the week and make sure it’s just good enough to pass. Professor Choi gave me the _eye_ when he returned the graded paper. I never got more than a C+ on any of my essays but he’s returning an A+ paper of course he’d find it suspicious!”

He saw the guy flinch on his seat mumbling his apologies, Youngho wanted to laugh.

“What’s going on here?” he finally spoke up.

All of a sudden, four pairs of eyes are on him but he only has his eyes set on the one sitting down, looking half terrified, half relieved. When he finally spares the others a look he saw how all three of them took a step backwards.

“None of your business.” C+ answered, doing his best to sound and look not intimidated at all.

“Oh but it is my business” he answers taking a couple of steps forward. “That’s my boyfriend you’re messing up with.”

Youngho promised himself he’s not gonna get in trouble. He doesn’t think pretending to be someone’s boyfriend to help out is going to get him in trouble. Right?


	2. Trouble? Kinda?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Youngho finds it amusing how the devil works hard in getting his ass in trouble.
> 
> Well, he wouldn’t say it’s much trouble, really. Just a little hiccup with the plan (or the lack of it, to be honest).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this chapter is not a complete let down
> 
> uploading this today because TAEIL breathed! 
> 
> thank you for reading! 💚

🐱

Youngho finds it amusing how the devil works hard in getting his ass in trouble.

Well, he wouldn’t say it’s much trouble, really. Just a little hiccup with the plan (or the lack of it, to be honest).

When he stepped in to help Taeil out (Youngho had to literally ask the guy for his name since he didn’t think the guy was willingly going to offer him that piece of information- Taeil is incredibly shy), all he had in his mind was intimidating the bullies and hopefully leave him alone going forward. What his brain didn’t bother with was thinking up the possibility of him and Taeil and his bullies going to the same university since there are two universities in his area. He found out about it in the most unexpected way.

He was at the student center waiting for Taeyong and Yuta to be done with their club meeting when he saw him again. He was sitting alone at one of the gazebos not too far away from where he is, his laptop, a notebook, an assortment of pens and an open book in front of him. He observes Taeil from where he was sitting and only then did his eyes really take him in. The guy was drowning in his gray wool cardigan he swears the guy could actually sleep on it and still have enough fabric to cover him up. His semi-round glasses that takes up almost a third of his face is sitting dangerously at (almost) the tip of his nose and when Taeil finally pushes it up to the bridge of his nose with his sweater paws, Youngho felt a weird thing dance in his stomach. He looked away and unconsciously pressed a hand on his abdomen trying to assess its sitch. When he looked back up, Taeil is no longer alone. He’s joined by the three other guys and he’s pretty sure it’s the same ones from a week ago.

His feet move on autopilot. Before he knows it, he’s already just a few steps away.

C+ carelessly throws a rolled out papers in front of Taeil.

“I need that on Monday-“

“Then why don’t you do it yourself?” Youngho asked, crossing his arms on his chest.

“J-Johnny..” one of the bullies stutter out his name.

When C+ turns to look at his friend, he has a questioning look in his eyes.

Youngho knows about a certain reputation he’s somehow acquired for whatever reason. He came to the university three weeks after it officially started due to a delay on some important papers. Yuta and Taeyong, 2/3 of his best friends, were more than happy to help get him settled in this new environment fast.

Being the visual trio that they are (and of course with Youngho towering almost everybody), they were not hard to miss. They are even more popular since Yuta is an athlete and is part of the dance troupe with Taeyong. So while his friends enjoy the attention (not in the egotistic kind of way, though) and socializing, Youngho likes to keep to himself when the other two are not around. Somehow his nonchalant attitude was blown way out of proportion. Those who don’t know him personally only know him as “ _Johnny_ ”, the “ _bad guy_ ” of the group. He should be concerned, especially with his propensity for keeping the bullies at bay, but he finds his reputation kinda welcoming instead. Surely there will be no reason to pick a fight with someone who has a bad rep unless you’re looking for a real whooping. The past semester proved just that when he realized people are mostly staying out of his way, which he didn’t mind at all. It’s not like he’s a complete outcast. He’s managed to befriend a few of the students he shared some of his classes with. He still gets invited to parties (which he turns down if he knew neither Yuta nor Taeyong would attend). University life for him is actually looking great despite his rep.

 _Ah.. So they’ve heard.._ Youngho thinks.

“Let.. let’s go..” Stutter says, leaving his friends without waiting for any replies. Leaving the other two to follow but not without C+ picking his papers up first.

🌕

Taeil’s eyes grow wide when he realized who the voice came from. He wasn’t expecting to see Youngho again after last week. He even stopped going to the city library when he realized he was the part-timer that helps him in checking out books because he was way too embarrassed. The guy even took him to the nearest coffee shop and bought him hot chocolate to “calm him down.”

Don’t get him wrong. He feels grateful that for once, somebody actually cared enough to rescue him from the situation. Jinwoo and his crew had been ganging up on him from the start. He’s just thankful that they were not the type to shove him up the wall to get what they want although he doesn’t doubt that they’re able to do just that if they wanted to, and obviously he’s not going to wait to experience that first hand so he just do as he is told. He honestly thought they would leave him alone since this term started given they have no classes in common and boy was he so wrong. They still somehow know where to find him if they need something from him, although this term’s been a lot better than the last. They didn’t seem to need his services as much. They only sought him out when their grades need a drastic saving. But still. He felt so pathetic for being the way he is: weak, not able to put up a fight, cowers and flinch at the slightest sign of conflict.

It’s not like he enjoys being bullied and being weak. But it’s not like he’s not used to it too. Most of his memories growing up were those of being bullied, being an outcast, even in his own family. Despite coming from a well off family, he’s spent most of his childhood lonely. The only time he stopped feeling alone was when his parents took Donghyuck in after his mom, who was Taeil’s dad’s sister, died of cancer when his cousin was just six and he was twelve. The house never felt so quiet after Donghyuck came. The boy grew up full of spunk he would even tell his hyung he will punch all of his bullies if he sees them. Taeil appreciates the thought. His cousin even invites some of his friends over so he could introduce them to Taeil so _his hyung would have friends too._ It was really nice even if the other five kids are mostly Donghyuck’s age. That was the most sincerity and care anybody’s ever showed him and it just really sucks that their age gap only made sure they were never really in the same school ever. Taeil also never found the confidence to make any friends, only acquaintances that he would be forced to casually say hello to if he ever sees them walking by but that’s it.

After years of enduring everything alone, he’s never thought he’d see the day when someone would actually step out to help. That kind of thing only ever happened to him once when he was in middle school but that story is for another lifetime.

Never in his adulting life did he think he’ll see the day when someone would actually show they care, especially for someone they don’t even know. He was pretty sure meeting Youngho last week outside the library and consequently helping him out was just a fluke. An anomaly in the norm.

But here he is again. Now sitting beside him, uncapping a bottle of apple juice and handing it over to him which he unconsciously took with both hands.

“Guys, seriously this isn’t high school” Youngho says, looking unamused while Taeil just looks at him. Then a shadow of something came over the giant’s face and he felt the hair at the back of his neck rise at his next words.

“You should leave while I’m being nice. And when I say leave, I mean never show your face in front of my boyfriend again.”

Taeil knows he’s staring but he couldn’t just look away. He’s feeling overwhelmed and that is never a good thing. He only snaps out of it when Youngho smiled at him. He looked away to see that his bullies are no longer there, a couple of unfamiliar faces replacing them.

“Boyfriend?” One of them asked.

Taeil looked back at Youngho just in time to see the other rolling his eyes before dropping his face on his hands to hide.

He finds himself seated on a couch in a small living room of an apartment just few blocks away from university. He doesn’t have a clear memory of how this came about but somehow in the last twenty minutes or so he was able to make his hands and feet move and now here he is. He squirms in his seat under the scrutinizing eyes of one of Youngho’s friend.

“Yuta will you please stop making the kid uncomfortable?”

Youngho just finished his elaborate story explaining to them how this all happened which surprised even himself. He didn’t think the big guy knew who he is, more so remember where he knows him form. He didn’t know Youngho knew about all those time Jinwoo and his friends found him at the city library to bother him about their assignments.

“I’m not doing anything.” the guy, Yuta, answered while still staring at him.

“You’re literally gawking at Taeil. You’re watching him like a hawk! Taeyong please tell Yuta to stop staring?”

Taeil looks up when he hears someone clear his throat next to him. As soon as this Taeyong guy took his place next to him, he looked away.

He continues fiddling with the sleeve of his cardigan while the other three talked. To be honest he doesn’t know what he’s doing there. He didn’t really need to hear any of those since he already knows what happened to him. He was brought out of his daze when a can of coke came into his line of view. He looked up to see Yuta, his eyes were softer this time. “Drink up.”

Taeil, thinking it’s an order, grabbed the can with shaking hands and tried to pull the tab open. His hands are shaking so much he’s struggling to even lift the tab . Long, slender fingers came to view and next thing he knows, Taeyong is opening it for him.

“I see why you did what you did Youngho” he says after giving the opened can back to him. Taeil continued to stare at the can.

“Taeil?” the owner of the name looked up at Taeyong who smiled a little at him. The smile was comforting and friendly, something he’s not used to, if directed to him. Not wanting to disappoint the nice guy, Taeil returned the smile with one that is barely there but he knows Taeyong saw it when his smile got bigger.

“Now I’m just pissed.” Taeil looks at Yuta to see him frowning at him making him look back down.

“Hey no.. I’m not pissed at you.. I’m sorry..” Yuta spoke gently to him, stretching his hand towards him making Taeil flinch before he feels a firm but gentle grip on his arm. “Do you want ice with your coke? I can get you some..”

Taeil didn’t get to answer as Yuta was already walking the small distance to the fridge. When he came back he took the coke that was on his hand and poured it to the glass of ice before handing it back to him.

“Thank you.” he managed to say in a small voice.

He drank from the glass and when he saw that everybody’s eyes were on him he felt nervous all over again.

🐱

Youngho lets Taeyong and Yuta chat Taeil up. Taeyong asked trivial questions: his age (22, he’s in his second year) , major (Physics), if he knew a guy named Kun (yes, they shared a couple of classes). Yuta was just basically playing dumb trying to make Taeil smile, which he was very successful at. He, on the other hand, just sat from a little distance away just observing the guy. He noticed how he pulls his cardigan closer to his body when he’s feeling nervous. When his hands stopped shaking so much. The way he pushes his eyeglasses with his middle finger which made Johnny lightly chuckle thinking the slightly older guy probably isn’t aware he’s doing it. How the apples of his cheeks rise even at the slightest smile. The way he gnaws on his bottom lip he even saw it bled a little at one point and how he sucked on his lower lip when it happened.

It makes him wonder what kind of person Taeil is. He has so many questions he wanted to ask but he figured it would be best not to overwhelm the guy.

When they stepped out of Taeyong’s apartment after a couple of hours, Yuta has his arm over Taeil’s shoulder making him laugh with his The Big Bang Theory references.

“Are you heading back to the campus? Where do you stay?” he heard Yuta asked.

“I.. I live a few blocks west of campus..” he answered a lot more relaxed now than he had been when they first came to the apartment.

“Well, are you gonna take the bus or something? Are you going back to campus? I can-““

“I’ll walk with him!” Johnny cuts Yuta before he could finish the sentence earning him a quirk of an eyebrow from his best friend.

“Lets’s go.” He urged Taeil to take the first step, the older couldn’t do anything but twist his torso a little just to leave Yuta a polite bow. “I’ll message you or something..” Youngho calls over his shoulder, his parting words to his best friend.

They walk in complete silence, Youngho a step behind the older who didn’t seem to mind. He just observed him more and noticed a few more things now that he’s not being careful about getting caught looking.

How Taeil walks at a pace slightly faster than any normal person would. How he keeps his head low most of the time. How he hums a little tune to himself, Johnny would miss it if he didn’t strain his ears enough.

He only breaks the silence when they were just a few meters away from the university gate.

“Taeil?” Youngho thinks Taeil has completely forgotten about him when the older jumped a little at the sound of his vice. He pulled out his phone and handed it over to the older.

Taeil stared at the device for a few seconds before looking up at him looking completely lost.

“Ring your phone up so you can save my number. So you can.. I don’t know.. txt me if you need anything?”

It took a few more seconds before Taeil seems to register what he had said.

“Uhm..” he stammers.

“Well, you don’t really have to. I understand if you’re not comfortable giving your num-“

“N-no! It’s not l-like that at all.. I just.. I don’t know what m-my number is..”

“Oh..” Youngho lets out a sigh of relief at the older’s response. He smiled at him a little before taking his phone back but extends his hand again after pocketing his device. Taeil just looked at his hand.

“Your phone? So I can save my number instead?” he explained further.

“Oh.. Uhmm..” at his point Youngho’s starting to think the other is just trying to come up with an excuse to not give him his number.

“I.. I don’t have my phone with me..”

 _What?_ he thinks to himself. _What college kid doesn’t have their phones with them?_

As if reading his thought process, Taeil offers an extended explanation.

“I.. I don’t really.. have any.. use for it.. it’s not like I have.. friends anyway..”

Youngho didn’t know how to take that information. He felt a surge of emotions he didn’t really feel comfortable with. He didn’t know what to say and just started walking again when the other turned his back on him to resume their walk in silence.

“Well, take care on your way home. Thank you.. for.. today.. and for walking me back..” Youngho, still unable to say anything only nods his head a little, watched as the other turn back around and resume his walk home.

**Author's Note:**

> @moonmantaeil


End file.
